Set the Mood for Weight Loss

If you are trying to eat less and lose weight these four weird tricks may help.

Light a vanilla-scented candle

The aroma has been shown to dampen dessert cravings. One group of 160 volunteers actually lost an average of 4.5 pounds each by wearing vanilla-scented patches.

Paint the dining room blue

Okay, granted, this is a bit extreme, but researchers have found that people eat 33 percent less in a blue room. The bluish light that results evidently makes food look less appealing. To see if it works for you without doing any whole-scale renovation, try using a blue tablecloth, place mats, or napkins. By the way, red, orange, and yellow colors stimulate appetite, which is why so many fast-food restaurants use that motif.

Put on relaxing music

Soft tunes playing in the background actually encourage more leisurely chewing. It combats hurry-up, stress-related eating by naturally relaxing you.

Turn up the lights

Restaurants don’t just dim the lights to create a romantic atmosphere; they do it so you order more food. Low lighting lowers eating inhibitions.